Saturday 19 May 2012

The Pantry Reconfiguration Part 3 – The Pasta Excitation

Week 2 of the dietary challenge done and dusted.  I found it much easier this week, and I think it’s primarily because of the meal planning.  Meal Planning – it’s like alcohol free days for me – you know you SHOULD do it, but really, in the back of your head, you know it’s not cool and hip and it’s far groovier to fly by the seat of your pants.  Yeah, I’m a rebel on a road to nowhere, hate in my eyes, don’t ask for me tomorrow,’cos I’ll be gone on a one way ticket to oblivion…

But I digress.  I have been described as possessing a (somewhat misguided) sense of confidence, and that was certainly boosted this week through menu planning and getting a bit more hard core about what really needed to be bought.  In summary, we spent about $10.00 more this week on groceries, but we did splash out a bit over the weekend (see below) and I didn’t blow almost a week’s worth of budget getting pissed with the girls.  Turns out, it IS cheaper to get untidy at home…J
I bought my lunch twice this week, once through sheer laziness (Thursday) and as I was meeting a friend (Friday).  After a couple of jelly free days, Son&Heir is back into the artificial colours and flavours with a vengeance.  As foreseen, no tuna was consumed this week.  I am going to try and face the remaining tins next week….sigh….

Week 2 Menu


LUNCH
DINNER
FROM THE PANTRY
SATURDAY
Left over veggie curry
Vietnamese glazed salmon and wilted bok choy
Salmon from supermarket
Bok Choy from market
Glaze ingredients from Pantry
SUNDAY
Sprats on toast (turns out we have a lot of them too!)
Stuffed Capsicums (with Mexican rice)
Capsicums from supermarket
All other ingredients from pantry
MONDAY
Cheese and Salad (me)
Left over rice& fetta, fruit and cake (S&H)

Cannelloni with spinach, ricotta and walnuts
Cannelloni, walnuts, tinned tomatoes, tomato paste from Pantry
Spinach from market
Ricotta from supermarket
TUESDAY
Left over cannelloni (me)
Packed lunch (S&H)

Thai Green Veggie curry and rice
Green curry sauce, rice and coconut milk powder from Pantry
Veggies from market
WEDNESDAY
Cheese and Salad (me)
Packed lunch (S&H)

Sandwich (me – meeting)
Take away noodles (boys)
I had a late meeting where sandwiches were provided.  LSH and S&H decided to go noodles.
THURSDAY
Take out sushi (me)
Baked Beans, fruit and cake (S&H)
Take out Chinese (LSH)
Chicken wings and salad
Chicken wings from freezer, marinade ingredients from the Pantry
Salad veggies from the market/garden
FRIDAY
Butter chicken curry (me)
Packed lunch (S&H)
Left over curry (LSH)
Thai rice noodle soup with prawns
Rice noodles, stock from the Pantry
Prawns from freezer
Veggies from supermarket

Total grocery expenditure for the week was about $116.00, which would have been less if I had not bought the salmon.  In fact, if I had not bought the salmon, we would have come in less than Week 1’s expenditure, with fewer meals out.  Brilliant.  Or maybe just lucky?
Week 3 is already shaping up to be a tough one.  I have started menu planning and there are already a couple of challenges apparent.  One, the Pantry is actually looking leaner and my choices are more limited.  And two, I don’t want to fall into the comfort zone of having the same meals week in, week out.  So, can I rustle up a diverse menu using a more limited range of Pantry options?  Or will I just give in and nip down to Flip Burgers when it all gets too hard?
Let’s find out shall we….?
PS  Thanks to everyone who has read the blog so far and been kind enough to say nice things to me (some to my face!).  As always, your thoughts and suggestions are most welcome. J

4 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks for asking! It's a small fish, like a weeny sardine, which is smoked and then canned in oil. Extremely delicious on toast. Unfortunately only S&H and I think so, however...

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  2. awesome job!
    I am going to steal your plan format as I like it better than mine :)

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    1. Thanks! And help yourself, I kinda owe you .... :)

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